← The Currently Reading Podcast
The Currently Reading Podcast
Season 7, Episode 14: Bookish Lego + Boss My TBR
00:56:00
On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: following us on Instagram and new bookish lego sets Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been reading lately Deep...
Loading summary
Transcript166 lines
- [00:00]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Foreign hey readers, welcome to the Currently Reading podcast. We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we've read recently. And as you know, we won't shy away from those strong opinions. So get ready.
- [00:24]
Katie Cobb
We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and our descriptions will always be spoiler free. Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the fountain.
- [00:33]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz, a mom of four and full time CEO living in Austin, Texas and I want to connect with more readers.
- [00:41]
Katie Cobb
And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona and I'm looking forward to building more bookshelves. This is episode number 14 of season seven and we are so glad you're here, Meredith. You know I love it when you connect with readers, right?
- [00:55]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And also never ever a bad time for more bookshelves.
- [00:58]
Katie Cobb
You know. And I have a very special bookshelf to talk about today. Oh good, good. First though, I'll let everybody know right here at the top that our deep dive today. We are bossing two new victims volunteers for their TBR this week and I'm very excited to get to them. And we also have a bit of mischief to manage. So it's the first Monday of the month. It is November 4th right now and that means it's time for our only ad of the month, an ad for ourselves this month for November. We are just trying to save you money. Girls and friends and gays and theys. We got all of you in this money saving train. Starting In November of 2024, all new Patreon memberships made through the app on Apple devices are going to have 40% added to the cost because of Apple's new store fee. We don't want to pass those charges along to you, but otherwise we have to eat it ourselves. 40% of the cost. Meredith, that's so much money. So we just want you to make sure to use a computer to join Patreon or a browser or a laptop or just not an Apple App Store device in order to avoid that fee. There's no reason for you to have to pay that. And this only applies to new memberships going forward. So if you have already been our patron for a very long time, feel free. First of all, thank you. We love you. We love having you around and hanging out with you and getting to know you, especially in the Bookish friends group. But this is not going to affect you. It's only going to affect our new friends going forward, which I think there's going to be a lot because spreadsheet day is coming up soon.
- [02:31]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Exactly. Spreadsheet day is coming up soon.
- [02:33]
Katie Cobb
So.
- [02:33]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay, Katie, let me just ask you a couple of questions. So you've taken care of the fact that if you already are a bookish friend, this means nothing to you. There is nothing for you to do.
- [02:44]
Katie Cobb
Correct. Unless you are a bouncer in and outer, which is totally fine with us. But if you rejoin again later, that fee is going to be added to your cart.
- [02:53]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay. So the way to get around that is you go to patreon.com currentlyreading podcast when you're on a computer, when you're on your laptop, not when you are on your phone. So we will try to remind you when we do posts, for example, that link to our Patreon on our socials, we will try to remind you of this. And also it is a good thing for us to be talking about here. This is something that is affecting all creators, so it's something to think about, not just for currently reading, but as you support other creators going forward.
- [03:29]
Katie Cobb
And I think this needs to be verified with Patreon. But if you go through the browser, even on your phone, it should be fine. If you have the Patreon app downloaded, it will push you over there and then it will require you to pay the fee. So that's the other kind of tricky part about it. Apple just really wants you to go through the app store and the fees associated with those purchases over there. And we just want. We just want you to be happy bookish friends.
- [03:58]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Wow. Yeah, that's a really big deal for creators for sure. From a business model perspective.
- [04:03]
Katie Cobb
It really, really is. Yeah, it's rough.
- [04:05]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah.
- [04:06]
Katie Cobb
So that's our mischief managed for the month again. If, if you want to join us, jump over on the website to patreon.com currentlyreading podcast. We would love to have you as a bookish friend for just five bucks a month. Lots of great content, book group, all kinds of lovely spreadsheets coming out soon and so much more.
- [04:25]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes, well, and now's the time of year where we are hearing people say, I am so glad that I jumped on board last January and got the spreadsheet, the reading tracker, and started tracking everything because now we're coming toward the end of the year. You've got this delicious data, stats and pie charts, which is great and also really, really, really, really helps you to have a more satisfying reading life. So I'm really excited we Always are excited at the beginning of the year when bunches and bunches of new people decide to join us. Okay, Katie, thank you for walking us through all that complexity.
- [05:00]
Katie Cobb
Definitely. Let's get to something fun. Tell me about your bookish moment, Meredith.
- [05:04]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, well, my bookish moment of the week is actually a little bit related to what you were talking about. So one of the things and people have started to notice, which I absolutely love, but one of the things that we are doing most recently in our business, Katie, because you and I take the business of what we're doing really seriously, we are beginning to throw some focus now that we've gotten the show doing what it needs to be doing, and we've gotten everything behind the Paywall, we feel like we're really, really good with the addition of Love and Chili Peppers with our content that we're offering behind the Paywall, we are now throwing more focus on what we are doing on our social media, especially on our Instagram at Currently Reading Podcast. And I'm really, really happy to announce that we have taken team member onto the Currently Reading staff, and that is Betsy Eikenberry, who is a fantastic, longtime bookish friend. She is doing some work for us every week as our social media manager. And so because of that, now you are going to see new and different things happening at Currently Reading Podcast on Instagram. So my ask for you is if you don't currently follow us, and we know that a lot of you don't because this show goes out to well over a hundred thousand people every week and we do not have a hundred thousand followers.
- [06:25]
Katie Cobb
So that would be exciting.
- [06:27]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Wouldn't that. Wouldn't that be exciting? So we are going to have a lot of really new and different things coming up. Betsy is full of ideas. You and I, Katie, are going to be very much involved in this. You're going to see more video from us, you're going to see more content talking about books, you're going to see more fantastic series that happen regularly, and just a lot more engagement from that point of view. I'm super excited about it, Katie. I know you are too. And so if you don't currently follow us, take a second right now, pause the show and go over and follow currentlyreading podcast on Instagram. We would absolutely love it. We want to connect with you there.
- [07:05]
Katie Cobb
Definitely. It's been so fun for me to get to. It's like a present. I get to open every day and then I come over and I'm like, betsy, I love this. This is so fun. So I am just loving the. The refresh and the revamp and how there's a lot of fresh energy. That's what it is for me because Megan and I together kind of built the currently reading social media over years, but we had some tried and true things and we just stuck with them, which is fine. That was working great. I love the freshness. I love the vivacity over there. Everything about it makes me excited.
- [07:38]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right, Exactly. It's really, really gonna be a lot of fun. Betsy has been a bookish friend from the very, very beginning, and not only friends of ours, but an actual bookish friend. And so she is a longtime listener to everything that we do. So she's really, really, really familiar with what we do, how we do it, with the community of readers that listens. And so finding ways to kind of take what we're doing on the mic and bring more of that to social media is something that she's really especially good at doing. And just from a personal perspective, I'm really happy to be working more with Betsy. She's one of my closest friends. And also I really like that because of the support of our bookish friends, we are able to substantively add to our business and add to our staff and the number of people who are positively affected by the work that we're doing on currently reading. And that makes me feel happy. I know that that's something that's really important to you too, Katie.
- [08:36]
Katie Cobb
Definitely. And it also means, like we told Megan, we can have her focus on exactly what she is so amazing at. I've actually added more work to her plate through this change as well.
- [08:48]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
To Megan, you're talking about, to me.
- [08:50]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. So, like, literally everybody wins with this move and it makes me very happy.
- [08:55]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, absolutely. So again, if you, if you love currently reading, take a second, follow us there. And then as we're doing this new stuff, if you see something that you really like, it would be huge for us if you would share that out. Because that is a way, as we say at the end of every show, that's a way that we find new listeners. We find our perfect audience.
- [09:18]
Katie Cobb
Definitely a small subsection of our perfect audience is a big giant nerd like me, Meredith. So I'm going to tell you about my bookish moment of the week. It's that my nerdy love of LEGO and my totally normal and not at all excessive love of reading has finally crossed over into a physical manifestation in the world. LEGO announced this week that they are finally releasing a gift with purchase called Books are my passion.
- [09:42]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh, wow.
- [09:42]
Katie Cobb
It's so perfect. It was available as of this recording. It was available as a gift with purchase starting on the 28th. But Lego says it'll run through November 11th, which means as of right now, there's still a week left in that time frame. It's this adorable bookshelf with a ladder. Includes a navy blue reading chair just like yours, Meredith, your custom one. It's got a side table with a mug, a plant, a globe, a little reader minifig with glasses and a sweater vest. It's just. I can't. It is the most delightfully bookish and nerdy thing. So lovely that I get to go to the LEGO store on Monday. So that's tomorrow in real time. We're going first thing in the morning. I'm going to check off a Christmas gift that I need to get anyway. And then there will be something very special waiting for me as well in that bag. It's the Books Are My Passion gift with purchase from lego. I hope you guys can hear how happy this makes me. I am just delighted.
- [10:36]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So are you saying it is perfect for you? Katie and I love it. Are you saying that everybody who buys anything at LEGO gets this particular.
- [10:46]
Katie Cobb
There's a threshold. Yeah. So the threshold is 130 in the US which is a substantial set or a couple of smaller sets. There is for those of us who are very nerdy LEGO fans, there is kind of a workaround on this in that you can buy a big set and return it later and not return the gift with purchase. And they will subtract the value of it from your receipt. So let's say you buy $150 set, you return it, you only get $130 back.
- [11:15]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay.
- [11:15]
Katie Cobb
But you get to keep that gift with purchase without having to actually outlay $150. So that is the workaround that you can use at LEGO if you're not an afol, which is an adult fan of LEGO like me or like my very excessively LEGO loving children. And you don't need a big set in your house, but you really want this beautiful readerly adorableness that is an option.
- [11:36]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay, interesting. I love it. Well, readers must be a big part of their business model if this is the gift with purchase, right?
- [11:45]
Katie Cobb
I'm hoping so. Gosh, I hope it just continues.
- [11:48]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I mean, it.
- [11:49]
Katie Cobb
Ha.
- [11:49]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It would have to be, because otherwise, how would that possibly work within their business model? Like, I would think they would choose a different gift with purchase.
- [11:56]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, they. I mean, they move all over the place. There's been Dungeons and Dragons ones, there's space ones, there's little, like modular bakeries. They do a lot of different gift with purchases. There's almost always something at a certain threshold.
- [12:09]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay. Okay.
- [12:09]
Katie Cobb
And this is one that the reader community has been waiting for for a long time.
- [12:13]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Got it. Okay. That totally makes sense. All right, I'm sorry for that little business alley that we had to go down, but I just. I get overly fascinated.
- [12:21]
Katie Cobb
Okay, okay, let's get into our current reads. Meredith, what have you been reading lately?
- [12:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, I am going to continue with my journey that I am sharing with you guys, of me reading every Hercule Poirot novel by Agatha Christie. I have another one. It is the Hollow, by Agatha Christie. Here's the setup. So, at the Hollow, Lady Lucy Angatel's country house, it's of course, just outside London, we have the perfectly planned weekend house party that goes slightly off the tracks when one of the guests is found shot by the swimming pool. As happens. Katie, you know, if you read Agatha Christie at all, you know that this happens. So the victim is John Christo, a brilliant but pretty jerky doctor. And standing over John Christo's body with a gun in her hand is his wife, Gerda. Now, this is very, very early on in the book, so we know that a solution that simple is way too easy for Agatha Christie. So this weekend's guests include a cornucopia of other, better suspects, including John's former lover, a famous actress, a sculptor who's clearly in love with wife Gerda, and the whole darn Angatel family, who have a habit leaving loaded guns lying around the house carelessly. It's the perfect setup. Exactly. So when Hercule Poirot arrives for lunch because he's taken a cottage nearby, as it happens, he finds himself drawn into the case where everyone looks normal, but is really a bunch of wackadoos. The Angatels treat murder like it's kind of an amusing parlor game. And Lady Lucy, the head of it all, can't seem to remember anything important, but she recalls very obscure details. And then there's the curious matter of why certain items in the house keep appearing at wrong places at crucial moments. So we're left with a story that is way more about the human psyche than just the mechanics of murder. So, as anyone who's been here for any length of time knows, I am making my way through what I hope will be all of Agatha Christie. For now, it's my love of Hercule Perrault. And this one is next on the list. I'm trying really hard to just go next next, given what's available on Libro FM and what is read by either David Suchet or Hugh Frazier, because I have to with those two. And as usual, I had no idea what this book was about when I started it. That is totally my favorite way to read these books. And in this case I was richly rewarded with a book that was in many ways familiar to the things that we expect. But this one was richer in a couple of ways that I found really enjoyable. The Hollow, I noticed from the beginning, was centering the women of the story in a way that many of her early novels do not. Here, for the large part of the book before the murder happens, we are in the minds of several of the female characters. And Agatha Christie is a master of writing these women of this particular age. And this reader thinks that you can always see where her biases lie. If you know anything about Agatha Christie's life story, you'll know what I'm talking about. The women in this story are richly drawn. They are not just side pieces or frail wives. They have rich, interior lives and they have agency, even if that agency isn't the way we think about agency for women. Now, these girls needed to be creative. It's good to know that this is a book that's really in two parts. The first part sets the stage and gets deeply into these women's minds, and the second part is where the murder happens and where Hercule comes in. In this book, Hercule plays a much smaller role than in some of the other novels. He's there and he's following the clues, and he eventually, of course, figures out what happened. But in this case, he's not the center of the story. And that was a refreshing change of pace for me. I've heard several people say that the Hollow is one of their favorite in the Hercule series, and now that I've read it, I completely understand why. I think it's one of my favorites too. This is not, however, where I would start you, if you are interested in starting with Agatha Christie. For that, as you've heard me say, I would start with Appointment with Death or Death on the Nile. But if you have a few Hercule novels under your belt, you'll love this one as much as I did. This is the Hollow by Agatha Christie.
- [16:53]
Katie Cobb
Feels very appropriate running right up to Halloween for us in real time, too. Yes, I realize that's not what it's about, but.
- [16:59]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. But it's titularly appropriate.
- [17:02]
Katie Cobb
Yes, yes. It feels like the Hollow could be read on Halloween. Yeah, that would make me happy. Also, the issue with people randomly leaving things where they don't belong in a house. The bane of my existence. Yes, Meredith, yes, absolutely. Okay, I have a book to talk about as well. You may be surprised because my reading's been such a mess, but I have three. I'm so excited. Okay, my first one today is A Pirate's Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne. I'm mostly going to go from the publisher blurb on this because I think it's pretty well done, but I have a lot to say about this one. Here's the setup. While searching for stolen dragon eggs, newly engaged couple Kiantha and Raina find themselves smack dab in the middle of a swashbuckling love story. On one side is Serena, a failed farmer turned pirate, her booty, wheat grains, and the occasional jar of imported tea leaves. It's quite the embarrassment to Diarne Arlen, the powerful world of the Nacean river, and he'll conscript anyone to bring her to justice, especially Kiantha, who is an elemental mage who just crashed his party, and Reina, her somewhat scary fiance. Begrudgingly, the couple joins forces with Bobbi, one of his constables. Arlen's constables, who happens to be Serena's childhood friend Bobbie, is bound and determined to capture the pirate before anyone else, but it would be a lot easier if Serena didn't absolutely loathe her. So there's a little bit of a friction in that business arrangement as Kiantha and Reina watch this relationshipwreck from afar. I love that.
- [18:30]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
That's good.
- [18:30]
Katie Cobb
It quickly becomes apparent that these disaster lesbians need all the help they can get. Luckily, matchmaking is Raina's favorite pastime. The dragon eggs may have to wait. That's the publisher blurb. I love it. I think it's so cute. This is the second in a series, and I need to tell you that. But I'm also telling you that it doesn't matter. Raina and Kantha are introduced in book one of the series called you Can't Spell Treason without T. That one has a bookshop at the center, and it does sound rather lovely, but I wanted pirates as I wished for publicly on the show about a month ago. So when I realized that I had already redeemed a Libro FM ALC credit for this title, I decided it was time to jump off the gangplank. Go right in. I grabbed this one, decided to lean into my weird Swashbuckling nerdiness for a while, and it was a great fit for me. I let myself be swept away on the waves by this story, out onto the deck of ships, into some political machinations, and directly into a gentle sapphic romance. It's punny and cute. It's piratey and sweet. It's not spicy, which is okay. This was a pretty good match for the our flag means death vibes that I requested in my fountain wish when I mentioned pirates a month ago. So for those of you who asked me to share those recs publicly, and there were a lot of you, please note that this is a great read alike for that. It has that LGBT storyline. It has romance on board a pirate ship, but it's not murder. Like, you're not getting people's arms chopped off, not even in the Black Knight of Monty Python way. So it's gentle, it's funny. I laughed out loud multiple times. And I love the punniness of the title. This is a Pirate's Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne.
- [20:12]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
So this is definitely cozy fantasy, Meg's tea room kind of vibe. Okay.
- [20:18]
Katie Cobb
Yes. Mixed with that romance. Yeah, it's legends and lattes, but pirates and tea, it's. It's very sweet. I also. I did go peek at the reviews for both of them, and this one is more highly rated than the first one, for whatever reason. Can't spell treason without tea. I did try it once and it just did not grab me. And this one I was in right away.
- [20:38]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, I was gonna say. Well, I actually wasn't going to say it till you said that I did try the first one and it just didn't grab me. Yeah, maybe it just wasn't the right time.
- [20:47]
Katie Cobb
Right, yeah. Totally possible I could go back to it and want to learn about how Kiantha and Raina got together in the first place. But for now, this was a great place to start.
- [20:55]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right, so you didn't feel like you missed anything by not reading that first one?
- [20:58]
Katie Cobb
Okay. Nope. It felt great.
- [21:00]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, excellent. Well, I'm going to take a little bit of a left turn here, go to some non fiction, but stay with me, because this is a different kind of non fiction. This is a book called Daily Rituals by Mason Curry. So the tagline does a lot of work here. It's how artists work. So Mason Curry gives us the daily schedules of more than 150 novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, scientists, mathematicians. Very simple, but not so easy. So since I was really small, I have been fascinated by how people organize Their days. I have no idea why this is such a point of fascination for me. But if you know me in real life, I am likely to ask you questions, questions that you are going to find odd, like, so what is it that you do after breakfast but before you get started with work? I'm innate. I just don't know why these things are so interesting to me. So when I found out that there was a book, an entire book just focused on the daily schedules of different kinds of creatives, I was so excited. And this book was endlessly fascinating to me. Every single day. I would look forward to my morning reading because I would read four or five different essays, they're very short, about the different creatives and all the details that were contained in this book that were endlessly exciting to me. This book is on. Is focused, as I said, on all kinds of creatives. So we have everything from novelists to scientists. We have people all the way back to Ben Franklin and all the way up to Anne Rice and Stephen King. So we've got a big swath of creatives that we're looking at here. But I did see some similarities that were true of many of the creatives in this book. Not all of them, but many had this kind of similarity. For example, I was impressed by the fact that many of the creatives eat very little or eat very plainly, and they exercise regularly. Yes, there are artists that survive mainly on whiskey and two pieces of bread, but most of them really prioritized, not overworking their bodies with a ton of rich foods. And they made time in their schedule for physical exercise that led to inspiration. Many of the artists and thinkers took long walks each day or had what I would refer to now as sit and stare time. They didn't just expect to immediately have a good idea. They made room in their schedules to think. And I think that that is really important. Many of the people that Mason Curry writes about have very regular schedules. They get up every day at the same time and they go to their desk and they sit there until some few hours have passed, and then they do that again every single day, like seven days a week. These are the artists that don't wait for inspiration. They believe that you have to work for inspiration or you have to be there for it. And then of course, you have the smaller group that simply works when the idea strikes them. It seems import an important thing that you know which one is right for you as a creative. Also interesting is watching how many of these artists have to deal with the things that we deal with. Now like having a full time job and then also making time for our passion or our side hustle. Many of the men, of course, that are focused on in this book had to earn money for their families. And many of the women creatives couldn't spend all day writing or painting. They had to take care of their children. So it's interesting to see how these people worked their creativity around the have to's in their daily schedule. Also, many of these people are called obsessive or coined as workaholics. Many of them require specific items to start their routines, like a specific lamp that has to be lit or a cigar or a pipe smoked, or they have to drink a certain tea out of a certain cup. I found it interesting that one of the creatives, author Nicholson Baker, talked about what he termed as having two mornings. He said a typical day for me would be that I get up around 4 or 4:30 and then I write some and I would make coffee sometimes or not, and I would write for maybe an hour, hour and a half, but then I would get sleepy, so I go back to sleep and then I wake up around 8:30. And after waking that second time, I go back to writing and focusing on things, what he termed his daylight kind of work. I like this idea of two mornings. So again, I find these prosaic kinds of details endlessly delightful. And if you do too, and if it interests you to find out how creatives like Agatha Christie, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens or Pablo Picasso arranged their 24 hours to be as creative and productive as possible, then you might want to check out this book, which I loved. It's Daily Rituals by Mason Curry.
- [25:53]
Katie Cobb
That does sound very interesting. And I can attest that, Meredith, you have sat across a breakfast table from me and been like, okay, but then what happens in your life? And kind of done that little interview process, even with me, who, you know, we've been working together now for a long time.
- [26:09]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right.
- [26:09]
Katie Cobb
So. So I like that. I think it's. I think it's fun to get into some of that behind the scenes stuff. And I know you know, Stephen King included some of that in on writing his memoir and I loved that peak, specifically behind the scenes. So this sounds like an interesting one to pick up for me as well.
- [26:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, this is one of those just weird kind of corners of my personality that I can't quite explain. But it has stayed with me my entire life.
- [26:35]
Katie Cobb
Well, from a business standpoint, there have to be other people interested in this though, right? Because otherwise they wouldn't have published a book about it.
- [26:42]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah.
- [26:42]
Katie Cobb
Like, I mean, it's not just you, is what I'm saying.
- [26:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, right. Which does. That's true. I hadn't thought about it that way, but that's absolutely true. And it makes me feel a little bit less odd.
- [26:51]
Katie Cobb
We all have our oddness to us. I For my second book this week, I'm going to talk about a reread. It's what Alice Forgot by Leon Moriarty. So this one is a reread for me, which I let everyone know I was going to pick up again on episode seven of season seven. I hadn't read it in nearly 10 years and found myself wishing to revisit the story from a totally different place in my life than when I read it the first time. I'm excited to tell you how that went for me. First of all, here's the setup. This novel is from 2009. I read it in 2014. The setup doesn't change. But here it is again anyway. Alice wakes up in spin class on the floor. That's very strange because she hates group exercise even more than she hates gyms, so there's no reason she should be in that class class. Even stranger is that everyone's acting like she's supposed to be there. She shows up religiously to every class. But Alice remembers things differently, and that's because when she fell off her spin bike and hit her head, she erased the previous 10 years of her life. She awakens from that bump thinking she's 29, happily married, and pregnant with her first child. But what she doesn't realize is that she's 39, in the process of getting divorced, and has already given birth to three kiddos who she doesn't remember at all. Alice is sure she can sort this out. She just needs to talk to Nick, her loving and devoted husband, and remind him of how much they love and adore each other and maybe meet those kids and all of it will come back to her. If nothing else, seeing her beloved sister should set everything right. Of course, none of that happens the way she expects. This book hit me big in the feels when I first read it again in 2014. I had just had my second kid, so my life didn't match Alice's before life completely. But I could feel that pull back to where she was, because pregnant with my first child was just barely back around the corner from me. I had just turned 30. It felt like an alternate view of my own life and made me think about what my life might look like in 10 years and now here I am 10 years later, this time having just turned 40. My youngest is 6 years old and my life looks very different from what it did 10 years ago. I thought this book was going to destroy me and I kind of needed that catharsis which I said on the show, but there was so much I did not remember about it. It really was like reading it for the first time for me. I had no idea what I would find at the end. I just knew that I must have been happy with it to give it five stars 10 years ago. And good news. I still loved it. I still enjoyed the Thought Experiment. I read it with my reading partner Katie, who was brand new to this novel. She had never read it before despite the fact that I pressed it like six years ago on the podcast and I was very disappointed in her.
- [29:34]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right.
- [29:35]
Katie Cobb
We had some really wonderful discussions and conversations about what would have surprised both Katies Katie and Katie 10 years ago about our lives now and what we thought might be different 10 years from now when I'm about to turn 50 or had just turned 50. Would we be happy with the choices we had made? Is there anything we need to do differently now to make sure that both Katie's 10 years from now are not plagued with regret or wake up shocked at what they find when they fall off a spin bike? That's not going to happen. Although we do both spin now and we did not 10 years ago. I truly think this is still a wonderful book club book, especially for anyone in their 20s or 30s. But a mixed age book club would get the most out of it. Ideally you'd read it with your very best bookish friend, especially if you're worried you might need some hand holding through it. If any of this felt especially tender when I talked about it and y'all would talk through the best and worst things that arose for you as you read it. That's what I had in my Katie. If it's been a long time since you read it, maybe 10 or 15 years, it might be time to pick it up again and see how it resonates for you now. It hit me newly on so many levels and I'm so glad I read it again. It did not destroy me in the way that I expected it to because of everything else that is surrounding me in my life right now, but I loved it and I did hug it still at the end. This is what Alice Forgot by Lian Moriarty.
- [31:00]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'm so glad that that was a good experience for you. You know that I said I was a little bit concerned.
- [31:04]
Katie Cobb
I'm so worried.
- [31:05]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I know I was a little bit concerned. But I think it was very, a very brave thing for you to do. And I'm so glad that it worked for both of the Katies.
- [31:13]
Katie Cobb
It did. Both Katies were pleased with our experience.
- [31:16]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Excellent. Okay. All right. Well, my third book is going to take us into a five star piece of crime fiction, which is a special place for me. It is my favorite place to be a five star. A five star work of crime fiction. It is 17 years later by JP Pomare. Here's a setup. In 1996, the small town of Cambridge in New Zealand was shocked when the wealthy Primrose family was found brutally murdered in their beds. Their live in chef, Bill Karima was quickly convicted of the crime. But questions have always lingered about how that investigation actually went down. And as the story starts, we're now 17 years later and true crime podcaster Sloan Abbott has stumbled onto something that makes her think this case needs a second look. This is a story told in dual timelines. We have the original investigation and the present day podcast probe. And we see that though the wealthy Primrose family looked like they had an idyllic life, things weren't as wonderful as they seemed. Podcaster Sloan digs deeper and she uncovers a heaping spoonful of secrets. Secrets and questionable business dealings and family tensions that paint a very different picture. All right. As I said, five star works of crime fiction are really rare for me, but 17 years later earns every one of those five stars. This one was recommended by a listener on All Things Murderful, and I knew immediately from that premise that I wanted to read it. But if I'm honest, I didn't have have super high hopes for it. I kind of just hoped it would be a good diversion for a couple of hours. But what we get here is something that is a lot more this is actually my very favorite kind of experience reading mysteries or thrillers. It's a book that is really smart from beginning to end. The author was careful and planted just enough pieces of the story throughout to not only keep the pace going, but also to really construct a very, very smart solution to his crime. The crime is heinous, obviously, and there are a couple of descriptions that are difficult to read, but there's not a lot of gore on the page here once we get past that initial description. But what we have here is just a very layered mystery that is also written with quality sentence level prose, and that combination is rare. This book is written with a lot of Care. Care for its characters, care for its story, care for its solution. There's a very interesting puzzle at the center of this book and the author lets us play along. I found myself guessing and note taking and highlighting and guessing again. And every single time I thought I had it, I was wrong. We've got an interesting setting, or at least a setting that I don't read a lot of in New Zealand. And this book has gives us a singular look at the New Zealand criminal justice system and how Maori citizens are treated differently than their white counterpar. But that theme, it's well explored, but it is not the focus of the story. The focus of the story is on who killed this family. There was just a single plot device in this book that I debated internally about. Was it a cheat or was it really smart storytelling? I've landed, once I finished it, on the fact that I think it was just really smart because it absolutely got me. If you like the works of Katherine Ryan Howard, who apparently also recommends this book highly, I think you should run, don't Walk to pick up 17 years later by JP Pomare.
- [34:58]
Katie Cobb
Okay, you know we have big feels about a podcast situation.
- [35:02]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes, this is a real. I know it's kind of a tired trope, but it's really, really interesting. And also I will say to our fantastic producer and editor, Megan. Megan, you asked in the bookish friends group, how do you, you know, when you're reading works of fiction, how do you annotate? What do you, what are you annotating in a, in a, you know, in something that's not non fiction where you're annotating big ideas? Well, here is a great example of a book where I was annotating like crazy because I was using those annotations to help me put the puzzle together and making notes when I thought I had figured it out and then quickly going back and realizing I had been wrong and redoubling my efforts. So in case that's of interest to anybody, this is a book that's a great example of, of the kinds of ways that I use actually highlighting in my book or making notes in my book to help me increase my experience of reading crime fiction.
- [35:57]
Katie Cobb
Okay. I want to ask more about this logistically too. Are you a type of annotator that uses a certain color for certain things? Like my suspicions are always in blue or my. Whatever.
- [36:10]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes. So blue is always when I'm getting into what character I think might be the doer. And then pink is always any thing in the story that might, that I. That catches my eye. That I think might be a clue.
- [36:26]
Katie Cobb
Okay.
- [36:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
To go very old school Nancy Drew with it.
- [36:29]
Katie Cobb
And do you highlight and also put a flag so it's easier to find that stuff later?
- [36:32]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
No. No. Because then that feels. That gets messy.
- [36:35]
Katie Cobb
I love this. Okay. My third book. Speaking of Megan, she was like, katie, please don't say anything bad about this book. I'm going to talk about Sandwich by Kathryn Newman. So this ties back to what Alice forgot, because I wrote speaking of books that meet you exactly where you are, which is exactly what this book did for me. Sandwich has really been sweeping bookstagram, especially this summer, because so many women of the sandwich generation are seeing themselves in the pages. So to mark this moment in time, let's chat about it. First, a short definition. The Sandwich generation is the one that is caretaking their children while their parents age and also need caretaking. So they are sandwiched by two other generations that need their care. It primarily refers to women who have been cast as traditional caregivers in our society. But of course, men can be sandwiched as well. This book is about Rocky. Rocky and her family vacation every summer on Cake Cod. They rent the same house for decades now. They look forward to the time together, even though it has a tricky septic system. And having moved away from my tricky septic system a year ago, I still have a little bit of PTSD around it. This is three generations in the same ramshackle cottage. But Rocky this year is dealing with night sweats and unbridled rage at her husband, who is also named Nick, which is a little bit weird because that's Alice's husband as well. Her parents are aging and her kids are grown, but definitely not adults yet. Her future is up in the air, and it's impacting everything about what she thought she knew in the past. The secrets of the next generation, her children's generation, force her to confront her own from decades back as well. This is not a long novel, so it doesn't need a lot of words about it. It's easy to read in a single afternoon, and it very much matches the age bracket of our typical listener. We, the currently reading community, are in middle age. We're 96% women, and we're dealing with everything in these pages to a person. I've seen reader after reader fall head over heels for this book, and Megan especially. I'm happy to report that I am not here to burst that bubble. I absolutely loved it. It deals with current issues in our lives, current political conversations in the world at large, and the current push and pull between multiple generations. This one put me Big into my feels even more than what Alice forgot and packed a much bigger punch than I expected from a shorter novel. It's under 250 pages and has a beach house on the COVID It doesn't look like a book that will hit you in that way. I felt Big feels about my own life. The pieces that are past, the pieces that are coming, and even the pieces my mom and I have talked about together and that I hope to share with my own kids someday. I loved it with my whole heart. I listened to it on audio, but every time I see it on a bookstore shelf, I touch the COVID gently. So if you haven't picked it up yet because you're waiting for the buzz to die down, first of all, I get it. I hear you. But I do hope you let it capture you soon. Maybe it's next summer because of the Cape Cod summer beach house situation, but I feel like it'll meet any middle aged woman exactly where she's at. And I genuinely hope that a lot of men read it too. I know Bill the Will to Read has read this as well. He loved it, posted effusively about it. It is a fantastic book that will give you a wonderful insight into either where you are or where someone you love desperately is. This is Sandwich by Kathryn Newman.
- [40:06]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I have a question on this. You said that her kids in the story are grown, but they're not adults. Like what is the age range of her kids?
- [40:13]
Katie Cobb
Yeah, they're like they're like 18 to 22. So they're grown, but they're like that kind of dumb adult grown where it's like, oh, you're not fully cooked.
- [40:23]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah.
- [40:23]
Katie Cobb
Yeah. So they are still making decisions that their parents are like. Well, I definitely want to say something about this, but am I allowed to anymore? Because technically they're not my problem. But they're still here living under this roof with me. Like it's that kind of stickiness that raising adult children that is portrayed really well in these pages.
- [40:42]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah. All right, that's very helpful. Having three, my three older kids be out of that. They are all older than than 22 is a blessing because now they are all fantastic fully grown adults. Yes. They're people that you want to spend time with. Parenting is still going on, don't get me wrong, long. But it's right. You're not as worried about their decision making. So good. I'm glad that you loved it and I've heard so many people say such wonderful things about sandwich.
- [41:11]
Katie Cobb
Yes. It's so good. It's such a wonderful book. I know. Mary loved it too. I even checked with you and Megan to make sure that Mary had not talked about it last week because I didn't want to double up. Although I heard there was another situation of that nature.
- [41:23]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yep.
- [41:23]
Katie Cobb
We did double up the first time ever. Sure.
- [41:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah.
- [41:26]
Katie Cobb
So excited about that. Okay, those were our current reads. Let's get into our deep dive, which is, of course, a new boss. My TBR segment. Very excited about this. We have two new friends.
- [41:37]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes.
- [41:37]
Katie Cobb
Okay, so first, we have decided to tackle Morgan Nibley. And she said in her comment, I volunteer as tribute, which I love.
- [41:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I love her name, too. Morgan Nibley.
- [41:47]
Katie Cobb
I know. I want to be friends with her.
- [41:49]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's so, so good.
- [41:52]
Katie Cobb
It's definitely like a hero of a novel name. I would read a book about Morgan Nibley, and I sort of want her.
- [41:58]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
To have either a son or a pet. That's like Nelson Nibley and I, not Neville.
- [42:04]
Katie Cobb
I think Neville would work too.
- [42:06]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Sure. Twins Nelson and Neville Nibley.
- [42:09]
Katie Cobb
Yes.
- [42:09]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Oh, it's so good.
- [42:12]
Katie Cobb
Okay, this time when I posted about this, I asked people to give us five books and also tell us something they recently read and loved, loved, just to get a little different flavor. So here's what Morgan gave us. Her five books are the Art Thief by Michael Finkel, Hyde by Craig Russell, Diavola by Jennifer Thorne, the Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, Slue Foot by Brahm. And she says, but I'm worried about the safety of the kitties in this story. And she says she recently read the Count of Monte Cristo and the examiner and loved both. What jumps out to you here, Meredith?
- [42:47]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Well, first of all, Ms. Nibley is definitely a Meredith reader, because there's no question that she has chosen five books that I absolutely loved. And so, of course, very, very difficult for me to narrow them down to just three, I'm gonna say, because we are where we are in the year. So as we said, as we record Right now, it's October 27th. By the time this goes live, it's November 4th. We still are in. You know, I believe that spooky season reading goes all the way through November. It is not done in October. So I'm gonna choose the three. That of that list that I think are the strongest for spooky season, I'm gonna suggest that she starts out with Diavola by Jennifer Thorne. Diavolo means devil in Italian. This is the one that is set in an Italian villa. It is v Scary. No question. And quick kind of has some of that family because they're on a family vacation with this very dysfunctional family. And then all these things happen. It is very, very good, very well written. Then I'm going to suggest that she move to Hyde by Craig Russell, because we're going back into a different period of time. We're going to England. It's very evocative and perfect for the season. And then we have to finish up with Slue Foot by Brahm. Don't be worried about the kitties. Do be worried about the villagers in this book. Get Slue Foot in print, please. Do not listen to Slue Foot. Do not. I mean, I don't know, maybe the audio is good, too, but you must get it in print. The illustrations. It is a regular novel, but the illustrations that are added to the novel absolutely. Make it what it needs to be. One of my favorite books that I've read in the last. I don't even know how long it is. Absolutely fantastic. So that. That's my three. That's my order.
- [44:37]
Katie Cobb
I love that. Okay. You can also tell from this list that Morgan is a devoted bookish friend because four of these five titles are recent indie press list picks, which I love. Yeah. Okay. We do have some overlap here. Meredith. I chose the Bright Sword first because it's November and it's a chonker, but it feels perfect for a fall reading time. We've got, like, Arthurian England, right? Just. It just screams November and it moves fast.
- [45:08]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's a chonker, but it's fast.
- [45:10]
Katie Cobb
Exactly. And then I did choose Diavola next to really creep herself out. I can't even look at that book without scaring myself.
- [45:17]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It's a very scary cover, that cover.
- [45:20]
Katie Cobb
It gives me anxiety. It really. I can't. I can't. I did write in my notes, I think Slue Foot belongs in October, so she may have missed her window this year. Meredith disagrees with me. That's okay. So I did put Hyde as my third pick because that felt like a great fit with her recent reads, Recent Loves, and the rest of this list in general. I also think it's a perfect November read as well. So I think, really, either one of those is a great docket for your November reading, Morgan.
- [45:49]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right. And really, you can't. You can't miss with that group of five. You just. You can't miss at all, in my.
- [45:55]
Katie Cobb
Opinion, is fantastic, too. It's like a quick win. It's so repulsive. It's nonfiction, so maybe that Mixes it up for her a little bit. I just.
- [46:03]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I love that book, so. Right. It reads just like a novel.
- [46:08]
Katie Cobb
Yeah.
- [46:08]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right. Our second new friend is Katie Picken. Katie says, I've been working on a Read My Shelves challenge all year, and these five keep getting bounced down the list by newer and shinier books, though I think these have potential to be shiny if I could just get to them. I think we all understand what. What Katie's talking about here. Right. So here are the books that she's given us. The first one is Making it so the autobiography or memoir by Patrick Stewart of Star Next Generation fame. We've got the Dry by Jane Harper, Blood and Sugar by Laura Shepard Robinson. Katie says, I love Daughters of Night, which follows this and has some of the same characters, though it can be read as a standalone. We've also got the Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Coel and the Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn. Katie says, storygraph says, I mostly read emotional, reflective, and mysterious books. And my top genres are mystery, literary, and contemporary. I tend to avoid non fiction, although I do enjoy it when I read it recently. I've loved this Motherless Land by Nikki May and Fang Fiction by Kate Stamen London. So thank you, Katie, for giving us. Katie Picken, for giving us such good information, for bossing your tbr. That was really, really helpful.
- [47:31]
Katie Cobb
Yes. It's such a great. Like a full glimpse into her life. Right?
- [47:35]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes.
- [47:36]
Katie Cobb
Okay. I feel like her list is kind of all over the place, but I love that that's how I am as a reader. As I looked through these books, which I was not familiar with all of them. I selfishly am choosing to put the Calculating stars first because sometimes my mood is bigger than my brain, and I want to read this book desperately.
- [47:54]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes. I, in fact, included the setup in my notes because I wanted to read the setup just in case anyone hadn't. So. Katie, do you. Do you want to do this?
- [48:01]
Katie Cobb
Well, I. Well, I don't have the full setup. I just wrote it's alternate history. It's badass. Women saving the world through nerdiness. It sounds amazing, but. Meredith. Yeah. If you want to give us the full setup, I would love that.
- [48:10]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I'll just give you the first paragraph. On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United states, including Washington, D.C. first of all, why have I not read just with that first sentence?
- [48:24]
Katie Cobb
I know. I know, right?
- [48:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the Earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteor meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process. So then we, then female mathematicians come into play. I mean, everything. You and I are going to have to Rock, paper, scissors for reading this book.
- [48:52]
Katie Cobb
Who gets to talk about it, right? No, I'm reading this. I mean, we can Rock, paper, scissors about who gets to talk about it, but I'm reading this for sure.
- [48:59]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, good. Definitely. I'm going to let you have it. You let me know what you think of it, and then I'll put it on my. I'll put it on my list if you love it because. Yeah, I chose that for one of my three, too.
- [49:08]
Katie Cobb
Okay. So next she says she avoids nonfiction mostly, but she doesn't tell us if she's willing to listen on audio. If so, I will say go with make it so next. But it needs to be on audio because it's Patrick Stewart.
- [49:22]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes.
- [49:23]
Katie Cobb
And every. Like his voice.
- [49:25]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yep. I said the same thing.
- [49:26]
Katie Cobb
Could read the. The phone book and I would listen to it. For my third spot, I chose the dry, which really held up for me even after a reread, which Shad and I just tackled for popcorn and the pages a couple months ago. So I'm going with that because I think it's a really good, solid mystery that a mystery lover should have under her belt. So those are my three.
- [49:46]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
And Katie, we made the exact same three choices in the same order for the same reasons. Yes. So I think. I think that absolutely makes perfect sense. And again, I haven't listened to Patrick Stewart do making it so.
- [49:58]
Katie Cobb
But me neither would I want to.
- [50:00]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yeah, that. That feels like something that would be time really well spent. And the dry is just. Yeah, it's one of those as a mystery. If. If you love mysteries, it's a really, really good one to just make sure that you've read because it's. It's just really. It's. It's good and it's been widely read, so it comes up in a lot of discussion. So it's kind of just one of those cornerstone books in the. In this genre, definitely.
- [50:22]
Katie Cobb
Okay, Katie. I mean, we agree. Which means we really. We get to boss you and that's what you're reading.
- [50:27]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Yes. Yes, 100%. I feel like that should be the rule. When you and I have the exact same thought, then there's no. Has to read it like that.
- [50:36]
Katie Cobb
Perfect. All Right, let's go to the fountain. Meredith, what are you wishing for?
- [50:40]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right. I have two short wishes. The first one is I wish that every book had short chapters. Katie. I don't know why this has become such a thing in my reading. I am reading Shadow of Night right now, which I'll talk about in a while, which is the second in Deborah Harkness's All Souls trilogy. And I am loving this book. But like Discovery of Witches, the same thing is happening. It is taking me forever. And I. I really think, because I. Both of the books, I'm very interested in what's happening. I want to be reading it. It's these 30 minute, 25 to 30 minute chapters. And because I read mostly on my Kindle at this point point, I see that I've got, you know, I finish a chapter, I see that I've got 27 minutes for the next chapter, and I'm just like, okay, I have to stop because I. I don't have 27 more minutes to read. But if it was like two seven minute chapters, I would read further.
- [51:35]
Katie Cobb
Yes.
- [51:35]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Okay. And I'm just gonna tell you something right now because I was like, I am friends with a psychopath. Roxanna told me when I said this to her in a voice message.
- [51:44]
Katie Cobb
Oh, no, know. I know what you're gonna say.
- [51:46]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
She told me something that I know she's told me before, but I wiped it out of my memory so that I could stay friends with her.
- [51:52]
Katie Cobb
She just stops in the middle, doesn't she?
- [51:54]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
She says she'll stop in the middle of a sentence.
- [51:56]
Katie Cobb
In a. A sentence. Roxanna, Roxanna.
- [52:00]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
That is chaotic.
- [52:02]
Katie Cobb
We are not animals. I.
- [52:05]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
When she said that, she. Okay, I can stop in the middle of a chapter if there's a br. You know, like some we'll talk about. Not like. Yeah, right, like a chapter break. Okay, if I have to. But to just randomly stop any old wear. No, I. I was unsettled. I was unmoored when she said that to me. And now I'm gonna have to wipe it out of my memory again so that I can stay friends with her.
- [52:28]
Katie Cobb
Now you've publicly said it and now you've heard it twice. Third time, though, it's not leaving. So better never talk about this again.
- [52:35]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I mean, this is a question. This is a poll that we are going to put it up.
- [52:39]
Katie Cobb
We're.
- [52:39]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
I. Because I have to know the answer to this. Betsy, you're gonna have to do your thing. Chicken wing on this because I need to know how many Other people can just stop in the middle of a chapter. Okay, that's. That's my big. My big wish. Authors short chapters. And also for Buddy reads. At least number your chapters, like help us out for Buddy Reads. Okay, so there's that. Also follow us on Instagram at. Currently reading podcast. That's the second part of my wish. Ping Splash.
- [53:08]
Katie Cobb
Yes. It's a circle back moment. I love that. Okay, my fountain wish. I'm going to press a book. I'm going to make it quick and tidy Taste by Stanley Tucci into everybody's hands. I read this two and a half years ago. I've referenced it often since then. I think about it constantly. I think this time it was top of mind because he's bald and he reads his own book. And so I was thinking about Patrick Stewart. Sure, that's what brought it back to my front of mind this time. But it has the subtitle My Life Through Food. It's really his memoir, based on his life around the table. From the lunches his mom made him in elementary school to craft services on the sets of big film productions, to his own show about food and eating. Stanley Tucci loves food the way we all love reading. And hearing him tell his story in his own voice on audio is the perfect thing on so many levels. I feel like the beginning of November, when we've just passed the chaotic candy fest of Halloween, we're looking forward to some upcoming large family meals, is the perfect time to celebrate our own lives through food. So it is also the perfect time to pick up Taste by Stanley Tucci. My second wish is that you follow us on Instagram. Pink Splash.
- [54:17]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Excellent. I love it. A double. A double wish. And certainly, yeah, that means you have to do it.
- [54:22]
Katie Cobb
Because as we established, when we double up on something, you have to do it.
- [54:26]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
It has to happen. Exactly. Exactly. All right, that is it for this week. As a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me. I'm Meredith, Meredith Monday Schwartz on Instagram. Though I will say more of my content is going to be concentrated on the currently reading podcast account going forward. Not all, but more of it.
- [54:48]
Katie Cobb
Seriously, I haven't posted like I've posted birthdays. That's it. That all I have for the past like six months.
- [54:53]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Right.
- [54:54]
Katie Cobb
You can find those over at my account on Instagram, which is Oates on Bookmarks. Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Puttivong Evans. You can find her on Instagram at most of megansreads full show notes with.
- [55:06]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
The title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps so you can zoom right to where we talked about. It can be found in our show notes and also on our website@currentlyreading podcast.com.
- [55:16]
Katie Cobb
You can also, and you should follow the show at currentlyreading Podcast on Instagram. If you listen to this outro every week and you are not following us on Instagram, you get a demerit, I'm sorry to say. You can also email us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com and.
- [55:31]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
If you want to help us rate and review us on Apple podcasts, shout us out on social media. Those things help us to find our perfect audience.
- [55:39]
Katie Cobb
Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you all for helping us grow on Instagram and get closer to our goals.
- [55:45]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
All right, until next week, may your.
- [55:47]
Katie Cobb
Coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.
- [55:49]
Meredith Monday Schwartz
Happy reading, Katie.
- [55:51]
Katie Cobb
Happy reading, Meredith.